Designer Damsels

Tuton · 01/01/2014, 02:20 PM

I was looking on the web at damsels and saw the a lot of the Neoglyphidodon damsels change from their bright and colorful youth to being drab adults. Then I did a little research of Fishbase.org and found they breed just like clownfish....
My question is how many generations does it take to get from a wild caught clownfish to one of the new "designer" clownfish that are all over the place???
I think it would be cool to breed the adult colors out of these fish and have them keep the youthful color....

jinks · 01/01/2014, 04:01 PM

Most of the time someone finds a fish that has a genetic morph already showing. Then you breed it producing a bunch of babies that look normal but have a recessive trait. Then breed the babies back to the parent to get a few to come out showing the morph. Those that show the morph can be bred together to produce more that look that way.

In your case you would need to find 2 adults that are holding their color a little longer then normal and breed them. Then wait for those to mature and repeat the process over and over again till they did not lose color at all. This would be how they change something like a Picasso to a platinum clown. Your going to have to keep all those babies till they reach the color change point so you can see who holds out the longest and then find something to do with all the others that are now the ugly adults that no one wants. I would thin you would be looking in the area of years but that depends on how much time you add to the good color every time you breed them. No way to figure that without doing it.

Tuton · 01/01/2014, 08:45 PM

Hmm....I just may have to try.....

01/01/2014, 02:20 PM	#1
Tuton Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 348	Designer Damsels I was looking on the web at damsels and saw the a lot of the Neoglyphidodon damsels change from their bright and colorful youth to being drab adults. Then I did a little research of Fishbase.org and found they breed just like clownfish.... My question is how many generations does it take to get from a wild caught clownfish to one of the new "designer" clownfish that are all over the place??? I think it would be cool to breed the adult colors out of these fish and have them keep the youthful color.... __________________ "In this hobby nothing good happens fast" Tank Info: 55 Gallon Mixed Reef, 20 gallon sump

01/01/2014, 08:45 PM	#3
Tuton Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 348	Hmm....I just may have to try..... __________________ "In this hobby nothing good happens fast" Tank Info: 55 Gallon Mixed Reef, 20 gallon sump

01/01/2014, 04:01 PM	#2
jinks Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 581	Most of the time someone finds a fish that has a genetic morph already showing. Then you breed it producing a bunch of babies that look normal but have a recessive trait. Then breed the babies back to the parent to get a few to come out showing the morph. Those that show the morph can be bred together to produce more that look that way. In your case you would need to find 2 adults that are holding their color a little longer then normal and breed them. Then wait for those to mature and repeat the process over and over again till they did not lose color at all. This would be how they change something like a Picasso to a platinum clown. Your going to have to keep all those babies till they reach the color change point so you can see who holds out the longest and then find something to do with all the others that are now the ugly adults that no one wants. I would thin you would be looking in the area of years but that depends on how much time you add to the good color every time you breed them. No way to figure that without doing it.